Gender and sanitation perspectives in Kampala's slums, Uganda

The perceived access to sanitation facilities for most urban slum dwellers in developing countries may have similar or varying viewpoints from the gender context. To comprehend such gender differentiations, this paper presents an analysis of results from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010 from 50 randomly chosen slums in Kampala. The findings show that sanitation has a greater effect on women than men. Gender positively correlated (Pearson chi-square values < 0.05) with the type of toilet facilities used (shared and private toilets) and satisfaction. The variables such as having separate toilet rooms for males and female, water for hand washing after using a toilet and a toilet room having a big space were also important gender attributes

Ecological sanitation uptake, knowledge, beliefs and practices in Kabale Municipality, Kabale District

Ecological sanitation is a promising novel innovation being promoted in many developing countries to boost sanitation coverage. This paper aims to share findings from a cross sectional study to assess ecological sanitation uptake, knowledge, beliefs and practices in Kabale Municipality, Uganda. A total of 806 respondents were interviewed, randomly selected from 32 of 77 (42%) villages in Kabale municipality. We held 6 focus group discussions and 10 key informant interviews. Ecosan coverage was found to be 20% (163/806) and 82% of the respondents knowledgeable. Factors reported for the uptake included education, occupation, religion, age, promotion methods, positive beliefs and the geological formation of the municipality

Customer perceptions and implementation of pro-poor safe water interventions in Uganda's urban areas

This paper presents findings from the study on water user customer perceptions and the implantation of pro-poor safe water interventions in Uganda’s urban areas. It was a cross-sectional study conducted in six urban towns. A total of 341 household respondents, mostly buying water from public water points participated. Most water consumers from public water points were satisfied with the sources and quality of water. Some perceived the water as safe to drink without first boiling it. However, some consumers believed their water was contaminated and others it being hard. Most water customers never participated in establishment of the sources and neither were they consulted in setting water tariffs. With regard to the pro-poor water and sanitation strategy, key informant respondents such as the private water operators were unaware of its existence while those who were knowledgeable were blunt about its content due to inadequate dissemination and clearly defined concepts. This study recommends that to any pro-poor strategies be well disseminated to all service providers and have clear implementation frameworks to track performance. In addition, of all service users at all stages of service provision, inclusive of setting tariffs to avoid exploitation from vendors at the public water points is fundamental

Behavioural factors for improved after-use cleaning habit of shared latrines in Kampala slums, Uganda

Access to clean shared facilities fundamental to health and social well-being to millions of people living in urban slums in most developing countries. This study assessed behavioural factors (risks, attitudes, norms, ability and self-regulation) for improved after-use cleaning habit of shared latrines in Kampala slums. A before-and-after study was conducted between 2012 and 2013 in three slums in Kampala, in which shared latrine user’s cleaning habit and the behavioural influencing factors were assessed. The findings after testing behavioural interventions consisting of discussions and commitment showed that there was an improvement in individuals’ after-use shared latrine cleaning habit from in the discussions (Mean difference = 0.26) and discussions plus commitment (Mean difference = 0.35) compared to the control population (Mean difference = 0.17). The improvement in cleaning habit was through individuals’ awareness of their vulnerability to getting diseases, involvement of latrine sharing families in cleaning, personal cleaning norm and commitment

Increasing household toilet investments through CLUES: lessons from Ashaiman Municipal Assembly, Ghana

Community-Led Urban Environmental Sanitation (CLUES) is a planning approach piloted in Ghana as a sanitation demand creation and triggering method to increase household investment in toilet facilities. It is implemented by the Government of Ghana in Ashaiman Municipal Assembly with technical support from People’s Dialogue on Human Settlements and funding from UNICEF-Ghana. This paper provides results from the implementation process. Within a year of actual implementation, over 800 households in Ashaiman’s largely informal settlements expressed interest in sanitation investment with over 300 already with complete functional toilets